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Microscopic colitis, encompassing collagenous and lymphocytic colitis, is a fairly common cause of chronic watery diarrhoea, especially in elderly women. In recent epidemiological studies the annual incidence of each disorder was 4-6/100.000 inhabitants. The aetiology is unknown. The main clinical symptoms are watery diarrhoea, weight loss and abdominal pain. Laboratory analyses are nondiagnostic, and the diagnoses rely on histopathological examination of colonic mucosal biopsies. There is an association to autoimmune diseases such as thyroid disorders, diabetes mellitus, celiac disease and arthritis. Budesonide is the best-documented treatment of collagenous colitis. It is superior to placebo in short-term therapy, but the long-term efficacy is not well studied. The evidence for other therapeutic alternatives such as loperamide, cholestyramine, bismuth subsalicylate, or 5-aminosalicylates is weak. In unresponsive severe disease azathioprine or methotrexate may be tried. There are at present no controlled data on the treatment of lymphocytic colitis. The long-term prognosis of microscopic colitis is good, serious complications are rare and there is no increased mortality.

The clinical investigation of the cognitively impaired, or demented, patient includes a clinical bedside examination supported by, for instance, structural and functional brain imaging, analyses of biochemical markers, and genetic analyses. Valuable discussions have been held during the last decade between specialists and primary care physicians to define the clinical elements that should be included in bedside examinations carried out by general practitioners. The present paper is focused instead on the bedside investigation performed by the specialist in the field. Emphasis is put on the importance of combined cognitive and neurological assessments to determine symptoms and syndromes that possibly reflect regional pathological changes in the brain. The article also stresses the importance of detecting possible behavioural and psychological signs of dementia, and the importance of collecting information on the premorbid personality of the patient.

Although acute appendicitis is often difficult to diagnose and negative laparotomy rates of 25 per cent are common, several options are currently available for the preoperative work-up. Careful history taking and physical examination are essential, together with analysis of inflammatory variables (C-reactive protein and white cell count). After admission, additional help is available in the form of ultrasonography and computerised tomography (CT), ultrasonography apparently being best in slender and normal weight patients (body mass indices < 25) and CT in overweight patients. The article reports how, without using invasive laparoscopy, a negative laparotomy rate of 7.2 per cent (11% in women and 4% in men) was obtained in 1998 at a hospital serving a population of 330,000.

In a retrospective study carried out at Norrköping Central Hospital, the incidence of Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhoea and colitis was found to be correlated to in-patient consumption (in terms of defined daily doses) of the implicated anti-microbial agents. The third generation cephalosporin, cefotaxime, was implicated 38 times more often than small spectrum penicillins. In general, the cephalosporins were predominantly responsible, accounting for 46 per cent (67/147) of the episodes but only 12 per cent of overall consumption of antibiotics at the hospital. These findings are in accord with data previously published in the nationwide report by the Medical Product Agency, Uppsala.